Seeing God as God - Ho Qi Heng

The five solas are five Latin phrases that were popularized during the Reformation, both as a corrective to the excesses of the Roman Catholic Church and as a positive biblical declaration. Of the five solas, Sola scriptura (Scripture alone) emphasizes the Bible alone as the source of authority for Christians. This supreme view of scripture lay in its claim that all scripture is “God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and so gave it divine authority. It can thus be seen that this high view of scripture was derived from a high view of God Himself. Sola Deo gloria (to the glory of God alone) emphasizes the glory of God as the goal of life. The Westminster Catechisms concurs by stating that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Implicit in these is an understanding and acknowledgement that God is deserving of this glory.

I feel that one challenge for the church today is for professing Christians to maintain this exalted view of God – seeing God for who He really is.

“God is a Spirit, in and of himself infinite in being, glory, blessedness, and perfection: all-sufficient, eternal, unchangeable, incomprehensible, everywhere present, almighty, knowing all things, most wise, most holy, most just, most merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.” This is how the Westminster Larger Catechism answers the question “What is God?”, according to who the scriptures present Him to be.

Among other things, a right understanding of who God is greatly affects our worship of Him, our appreciation of His mercy, the extent of His condescension toward us, and how we should view ourselves with respect to Him.

In Jonathan Edwards (probably most famous) sermon “sinners in the hands of an angry God”, he paints a picture of a holy God who is under no obligation to preserve the lives of sinners:

“These natural men have done nothing at all to appease or abate that anger, and God is not in the least bound by any promise to hold them up. The Devil is waiting for them; hell is gaping for them; the flames gather and flash about them, and would prefer to lay hold of them and swallow them up. The fire pent up in their own hearts is struggling to break out; and they have no interest in any Mediator. There are no means within reach that can be any security to them. In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take hold of. All that preserves them every moment is the sovereign, all-powerful will, the uncovenanted, unobliged forbearance, of an incensed God.”

While many may feel that Edwards is trying to incite fear in the hearts of his audience here, what is painted here is no exaggeration of the power of a fearsome God who is able to “destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). If we as Christians were able to see the wrath towards wickedness which an infinitely holy and just God demands, we would also see the great blessedness we have now received as people of grace, having now received mercy and pardon from our sins through Christ. It is disturbing to consider how perhaps a significant part of our church congregations adopt a flippant attitude towards worship, strolling in late for services, using their phones in the midst of worship and the like. 

The adequacy of our view of God also determines how we (desire to) engage Him through the scriptures and prayer. While we as finite man cannot grasp the fullness of God in our lifetime, a proper sense of His infinite perfection will prompt us towards a lifetime pursuit of Him. A.W. Tozer says in the pursuit of God,

“The moment the Spirit has quickened us to life in regeneration our whole being sense its kinship to God and leaps up in joyous recognition. That is the heavenly birth without which we cannot see the kingdom of God. It is, however, not an end but an inception, for now begins the glorious pursuit, the heart’s happy exploration of the infinite riches of the Godhead. That is where we begin, I say, but where we stop no man has yet discovered, for there is in the awful and mysterious depths of the Triune God neither limit nor end.”

Yet if we are honest with ourselves, it is not often we can say along with the psalmist:

One thing have I asked of the Lord,

              that will I seek after:

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord

             all the days of my life,

to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord

 and to inquire in his temple.  

Psalm 27:4

I find it sad to see that as Christians progress along in their lives here on earth through various stages of life, the pursuit of God and of knowing Him seems to take a backseat. When a spouse comes along, a family is formed, there is a danger for our faith to be relegated to just a routine and practice of “what a Christian needs to do”.

As mentioned, a right view of God affects how we see ourselves with respect to Him. In our day and age, many professing Christians have been turned away by difficult questions directed against the character of God – “how can a loving God allow evil to exist? How can God condemn sinners to hell for eternity? How can God elect some to be saved over others?” Others try to avoid this dilemma by altogether avoiding any engagement on these subjects, for fear that they might waver in their faith too. In the past, (at least from a personal viewpoint) Arminianism served as an example how men attempted to defend God’s “fairness” at the expense of compromising His sovereignty. However, we need to recognize that in the Creator-creature relationship, God is the Judge – the roles cannot be reversed. If God in His word does not see a need to defend Himself (regarding election for example: But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? Romans 9:20-21), we do not need to become flustered trying to defend Him against the skeptics. My point in using this example is this: That God is loving does not negate the fact that God is the Almighty, the great I AM, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. That God is loving does not bring Him on equal plane with us such that we can treat Him as equals, even if He calls us friends.

Thus it is when we have a right view of God, then we will have a right view of scripture. A magnified view of God then leads to a magnified view of scripture. It is then that scripture being “God-breathed” means anything to us as Christians. It is then the commands to “Go”, to “Love your enemies”, to “deny yourself” are understood as they really are – commands rather than options.

Yet what can be done for Christians to have a right view of God, to see God as God? For no doubt it is the work of the Holy Spirit that draws us to pursue and thirst after Him. But perhaps for those who have tasted and seen that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8), the pursuit of God can be a contagious influence to brothers and sisters around. Tozer describes those who have “found God and still to pursue Him” as “children of the burning heart”, and by much prayer will the flames in these hearts be caught up by others around them.

To conclude: while what has been written may seem disconnected in parts, what I have attempted is to point towards is this: only a proper view of God can accord to the Christian a proper view of scripture (Sola scriptura), and a proper view of his purpose on earth (Soli Deo gloria). I pray that all of us, including myself, will reverently seek to cultivate this proper view of God in our lives =)

References:

1. Edwards, J. (1997). Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Whitaker House.

2. Tozer, A. W. (2014). The pursuit of God. Authentic Media Limited.

3. Vos, J. G. (2002). The Westminster larger catechism: A commentary. G. I. Williamson (Ed.). P & R Pub..